The Empty Balcony: Becket & The Lion in Winter

In 1998 Peter O’Toole played Dr. Timothy Flyte in Phantoms alongside Ben Affleck, Liev Schreiber and Rose McGowan. I love it when fine actors slum it. One can read just how closely their patience is being tested on their faces. Oh? Filming my part is going to stretch longer than a week? My apologies, but I must be on a flight back to England by Friday. What’s that? You have more money? I would be delighted to stay! Continue readingThe Empty Balcony: Becket & The Lion in Winter”

The Empty Balcony Awards

The Academy Awards were held last night. I hadn’t been paying much attention to the lead-up, but the past week it’s been unavoidable. Every time I turned on ABC they were pimping the show, whether it be during commercials or during the evening news. I was absorbing pop culture by osmosis. It wasn’t until yesterday morning, however, when George Will of all people gave his Oscar pick on This Week, that I realized my cinematic experience was a bit different than most folks. Of the fourteen films nominated in the top categories, best picture, director, screenplay, and acting, I have seen none of them. Not one. Continue reading “The Empty Balcony Awards”